Week of Cold War Kids

     This week I will being reviewing a new album from a band that had one of my favorite debut albums ever, Robers and Cowards. So lets melt the away the snow with indie rock legends Cold War Kids and their fourth album Dear Miss Lonelyhearts.

         Cold War Kids are an American indie rock band from Long Beach, California. They were formed in 2004 and consist of Nathan Willett on piano and vocals, Matt Maust on Bass, Jonnie Russell on guitar, piano, and vocals, and Matt Aveiro on drums. They first formed in Jonnie Russell's apartment above a restaurant called Mulberry Street, which would eventually be used as the name for their first ep. Which was released in 2005. After touring they put out two more ep's With Our Wallets Full and Up in Rags in 2006. After signing to Downtown Records they released their debut record Robbers and Cowards in fall of 2006. After two years of solid touring the band ended back in the studio in 2008. The bands second album Loyalty to Loyalty was released in September 2008 and marked the addition of politics into their songs as well as philosophical references. The album was actually named after philosopher Josiah Royce. After being on the road with Death Cab for Cutie the decided to get some extra songs out there and recorded the ep Behave Yourself. In 2010 they hired producer Jacquire King to help them on their third album Mine is Yours. He previously had helped produce the last Kings Of Leon album. The album was released in 2011 and marked a change to more mainstream poppy music for the Cold War Kids. Their forth album Dear Miss Lonelyhearts was released on April 2nd 2013.

      This band has really changed over the past few records so lets recap their musical evolution. Back in 2006 Cold War Kids were one of the most individual and important acts on the indie scene or in music in general. They have been called so many different things referring to their sound from, piano rock, to old people music, to indie rock, to blues, to soul , and even hard rock. What Robbers and Cowards really was, was a fantastic concept album that fused together blues, soul, and rock with beautifully well told narrative stories for lyrics. The album used stories of thief's and just depressing narratives to pull you into the music and emotions of the bands album. The soul is really all held up by singer Nathan Willett extremely raw and intense vocals. The second album Loyalty to Loyalty kept a similar music style in sound overall, but changed up the stories quite a bit. This was not a concept album, giving them more freedom to dive into deep political issues with their stories even using philosophy to guide their lyrics. Mine is Yours was guided in sound by producer Jacquire King to help guide the direction of their next record. He chose to push them in more of a pop direction to focus on showing off Nathan Willetts great voice. Mine is yours is an album about love and loss, trying to and succeeding to appeal to more fans on a mainstream level and be more commercially successful. That leads us up to now.

We Used to Vacation-Cold War Kids 

     If I'm completely honest with you, I was very disappointed by Mine is Yours as were a lot other fans. The first song I heard off of this album gave me hope that they were trying to make a comeback and return to their earlier sound. They have obviously realized that Mine is Yours was a miss step that they try to correct here. The first time I listened to this album I was very upset that they were taking a similar path as on Mine is Yours and I really didn't like the album. Upon further review and a couple more listens, I realized that the album is really a mix of Mine is yours and Robbers and Cowards. They have elements of blues and raw energy but, there also moments of pop and loss of direction. The albums starts off very strong hitting you with all that it has at the start. Like it is trying to prove it self and continues until about half way through. This  is where it really losses steam. They slip back into slower piano pop driven songs on the second half that leave a lot to be desired. This band knows what they want to be but, it feels like they get lost some times along the way to get there.

     The album opens with a fierce and explosive intensity, not seen since their debut. "Miracle Mile" is very energetic and fun piano driven song. It's all the things we fell in love with from the Cold War Kids. "Lost That Easy" continues their comeback, with a slow synthesizer start and a huge fun chorus that really shows off Nathan vocals. There is a very electronic opening to "Loner Phase" its poppy like on Mine is Your but it still has more of a direction and an individuality to it. "Fear and Trembling" is a song that feels like singer Nathan is trying to inject some soul back into it like on previous albums. It is a good song but never reaches the heights of previous works. "Tuxedos" is a slow soulful and bluesy track, but it still feels lacking. It also marks the turning point on the album toward slower less driving songs. "Bottled Affection" is the song that originally made me hate this album. It's up there with the worst pop songs on the radio. Its a complete failure as a song and brings down the album as a whole. "Jailbirds" is a very surprising high note towards the otherwise worse half of the album. It comes out of no where and makes you want to believe in the album again. This is one of the best songs on the album and has an infectious bass line that drives a very catchy song. Sadly following that diamond in the rough, is the one two punch of "Water and Power" and "Dear Miss Lonelyhearts". These two piano led songs feel forced and completely miss the goal of the rest of the album. The album's closer "Bitter Poem" attempts to be a huge cinematic track to end the album out with a bang. It isn't a complete failure, not sinking to the faults of the two previous songs. I just feels like it's lacking something.
                                                           Jailbirds- Cold War Kids

     What could have been a great comeback album from a truly inspirational indie band just feels like a missed opportunity. It starts off strongly and reminds of why we loved them, then drops off, and falls apart. As if they just ran out of good song ideas half way through. With the exception of "Jailbirds" the first half of the album is much stronger then the second. Even with all of it's miss steps and shortcomings this album is still leaps and bounds better than the soul less, cash in, pop album that was Mine is Yours. The Cold War Kids have proved one thing with this album, that is that is they can still write great songs. They may never achieve the heights of their debut Robbers and Cowards, but if they ever live up to their full potential again. I want to be there to see it.
Recommended Songs: Miracle Mile, Lost That Easy, Loner Phase, Jailbirds.

2.5/5 Stars